Legal & IP

Last updated: 30 August 2026

This website is operated by Mycore Psychological Consulting Ltd.

The content is provided to explain our psychological, consultancy, formulation and educational work and to share developing professional thinking and resources.

By using the website, you acknowledge the terms below.

1. Professional information, not individual advice

Information published on this website is provided for general informational, professional and educational purposes.

It should not be interpreted as individual psychological, medical, psychiatric, legal or other professional advice.

Psychological and health-related information needs to be understood in the context of the individual. Website content cannot provide that assessment.

Accessing this website, reading its content or contacting Mycore does not in itself establish a therapeutic or professional relationship.

2. NSCTA™

NSCTA™ — Neuro-Somatic Capacity–Threat–Agency is an original developing formulation framework created by Rebecca Downes through Mycore Psychological Consulting Ltd.

NSCTA™ is intended to provide a structured way of organising complexity within psychological formulation.

At its centre is the Capacity–Threat–Agency model:

Capacity — what resources are currently available relative to demand?

Threat — what is the person or system responding to, anticipating or continuing to protect against?

Agency — where does meaningful influence, choice or movement remain?

NSCTA™ is applied through a biopsychosocial lens.

It is currently best described as a research-informed developing formulation framework.

It is not a diagnosis, psychometric instrument, medical assessment or standalone therapeutic modality.

3. Body-Up, Top-Down and Outside-In

Within NSCTA™, Body-Up, Top-Down and Outside-In are used as directions of enquiry within the wider biopsychosocial formulation.

The Body-Up / Top-Down / Outside-In approach used within NSCTA™ is adapted from the work of neuroscientist Dr Sarah McKay.

Within NSCTA™, these directions are used to explore:

Body-Up — physiological and somatic influences.

Top-Down — psychological and cognitive influences, including meaning, memory, beliefs, learning and emotional processing.

Outside-In — relational, occupational, social, organisational and environmental influences.

The adaptation and integration of these directions within NSCTA™ should not be interpreted as suggesting that Dr McKay developed, endorses or is otherwise affiliated with NSCTA™.

All intellectual property belonging to Dr McKay and other third-party authors remains theirs.

4. Research foundations

NSCTA™ draws upon established and developing bodies of knowledge across areas including allostasis and predictive regulation, interoception, stress and threat processing, trauma and learning, inhibitory learning and neurocognitive understandings of agency.

Mycore does not claim ownership of these underlying scientific theories, established concepts or research findings.

References to published research are provided to identify the bodies of knowledge informing the framework.

They should not be interpreted as evidence that the cited authors have evaluated, validated or endorsed NSCTA™.

The framework itself remains in development.

5. Copyright

Unless otherwise stated:

© 2026 Mycore Psychological Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved.

Original written content, diagrams, graphics, formulations, educational resources, training materials and other original expression published by Mycore are protected by applicable copyright and intellectual property law.

Copyright protects the original expression of our work. It does not give Mycore ownership of established psychological, neuroscientific, biological or other scientific concepts upon which that work may draw.

6. Use of NSCTA™ materials

Website visitors are welcome to read, link to and reference publicly available NSCTA™ material for legitimate personal, academic or professional purposes, provided appropriate attribution is given.

Unless written permission has been obtained, Mycore materials may not be:

• reproduced substantially or in full 
• republished as another person's material 
• incorporated into commercial training 
• used to create derivative practitioner tools or frameworks 
• incorporated into paid courses or consultancy products 
• reproduced in manuals, workbooks or assessment materials 
• licensed, sold or commercially distributed 
• represented as having been developed by another person or organisation. 

Short quotations may be used where permitted by law and appropriately attributed.

For permission to use NSCTA™ materials beyond ordinary reference or citation, please contact Mycore.

7. Trade marks

NSCTA™ and Menopause in Context™ are marks used by Mycore Psychological Consulting Ltd in connection with developing professional frameworks, services and educational materials.

The ™ symbol identifies a claimed trade mark. It does not represent registered trade mark status unless registration has been formally obtained.

Use of Mycore names, marks or branding in a way that suggests endorsement, accreditation, affiliation or authorisation is not permitted without written agreement.

8. Professional application

Information about NSCTA™ on this website is introductory.

It should not be assumed that reading publicly available website material constitutes training or competence in the professional application of the framework.

Where structured practitioner training, guidance, assessment materials or professional standards are developed, their scope and permitted use will be identified separately.

9. Clinical and medical boundaries

NSCTA™ is designed to support psychological formulation and professional reasoning.

It does not replace medical investigation, psychiatric assessment, safeguarding procedures or other specialist professional input where these are required.

References to physiology, neuroscience, hormones, pain, sleep, neurodivergence or other health-related influences are intended to broaden formulation rather than make medical diagnoses.

10. Accuracy and developing knowledge

Psychological, neuroscientific and health research continues to evolve.

We aim to ensure that information published on this website is thoughtful, appropriately sourced and current at the time of publication, but we cannot guarantee that every page will remain current indefinitely.

NSCTA™ itself is developing through clinical application, reflective practice, theoretical enquiry and engagement with research.

The intention is to allow the framework to develop without allowing the claims made for it to move faster than the evidence.

11. External research and links

This website may link to research papers, professional organisations and other third-party resources.

Such links are provided for reference and further reading.

They do not imply endorsement of NSCTA™ by the author, publisher or organisation concerned, nor does Mycore assume responsibility for external content.

12. No endorsement or affiliation

Reference to a researcher, clinician, author, theory, model, university, professional organisation or publication does not imply sponsorship, endorsement, partnership or affiliation unless this is expressly stated.

This includes attribution to Dr Sarah McKay in relation to the Body-Up / Top-Down / Outside-In approach adapted within NSCTA™.

13. Contact and permissions

For copyright, professional-use, training, licensing or other intellectual-property enquiries, please contact:

Mycore Psychological Consulting Ltd
128 City Road
London
EC1V 2NX

Email: enquiry@mycoreconsulting.co.uk
Telephone: 0333 200 1815